Freezer Meals

[StrawberryFields]

Wow, I came across the best thread in Nutrition and Good Eating. Since we are all at the point where we might want to start thinking about filling our freezers for when the babies arrive, I thought you might want to check it out too!

http://www.mothering.com/discussions...d.php?t=522096

I know I said I wasn't going to even start thinking about it until after the holidays but I realized if this baby arrives at 38 weeks like ds did, I'll only have 2 weeks and well, I might be kind of tired. So with the holiday cooking and baking and all I thought it would be best to just buck up and start making double batches of a lot of things to put in the freezer starting now. With turkeys $0.38/lb for Thanksgiving I snatched up a 15 lb-er and froze turkey dumpling soup and turkey slices in broth today.

Next up is a batch or two of chili, some quick breads and/or muffins, and some breakfast foods.

[Mama2-4]

I have spent lots of time reading that thread, I also love the threads on slow cooker recipes. I plan to also fill up the freezer before the baby comes!

[smokeylo]

: This makes me wish I had a bigger freezer!

[sarahn4639]

I've been thinking about this too. I haven't started yet but I'm on board for the freezer feeding!

[flapjack]

I have 5lbs of cheese scone mix sitting in my freezer, and that's it (in terms of prepared ahead stuff, anyway). I'm still trying to get rid of the ice cream mountain.

So, when you feed your freezer, what do you actually freeze the food in????????? Do you have loads and loads of freezerproof oven to tableware, or do you use aluminium trays or something? They're getting harder and harder to find over here, especially in the sizes I need.

[Justmee]

I usually feed in square plastic : tupperware. I also have some recycled glass jars (coffee here comes in glass jars) I use for soups and things (just leave space at the top and don't put the soup in too hot). I've used ziplock bags and aluminum trays too, or wraping things (like bread) in aluminum foil.

[StrawberryFields]

Originally Posted by flapjack

So, when you feed your freezer, what do you actually freeze the food in????????? Do you have loads and loads of freezerproof oven to tableware, or do you use aluminium trays or something? They're getting harder and harder to find over here, especially in the sizes I need.

I use Ziploc-type freezer bags for most of my freezing, or freezer paper and aluminum foil. Yesterday I cooked a turkey and froze a thigh/leg and a breast in a gallon-sized freezer bag, filled the bag up with broth and laid it flat in the freezer on its side. Then when it is frozen I can stack all the meals nicely to save room. I put all chilis and soups in freezer bags, too.

I also freeze a lot of items loose in individual servings (muffins, cooked egg dishes, breaded chicken, etc.) and I put those in freezer bags so we can pull out what we need. For ready-to-bake casseroles I try and line the pan with foil/freezer paper, then pop them out of the pan once they are frozen and stack them in the freezer like that or put them in freezer bags and stack. I only make loaf pans or 8x8s since there is only 2.5 of us, but it would probably work with larger casseroles as well.

[Mama2-4]

Strawberry, I like the idea of lining the pan with foil and removing it once the item is frozen. I usually use my pyrex dishes to freeze stuff in, but often find myself without any dishes, they are all in the freezer! I will try this technique.

When I make quick breads I usually let them cool on the counter and then wrap the in plastic wrap and then foil, maybe this is overkill.

I am feeling inspired to start nesting and fill the freezer up!

[nausicaamom]

I have a vacuum sealer which I'm sure will be seeing a lot of use in the next few weeks. It works great for doing individual meals for my husband with left-overs, it's the only consistant way I've found to be able to re-heat frozen rice without have to sauce the heck out of it since any moisture that evaporates from the rice goes right back in when you re-heat it. I'm doing our family turkey on Saturday so I'm planning on doing my first batches of soups and chili from that. Sometime after Christmas I'll get things together so I can freeze some larger prepared meals - strombolis, small lassagnas, meatballs and sauce, etc.

[applecore]

Thanks to this thread, I had the presence of mind to make way more chili than was needed last night, and now have my first freezer meal ready to go! Yay! Thanks for the reminder!

[ksera05]

I'm going to work on feeding the freezer in December. I realized that on December 1st I'll only have 8 more weeks to go before I have this baby....AAACKKK!!!

[Dea]

you are all going to hate me, but DH's work pays for 2 weeks of take out for employees when they have a baby.
HOWEVER I love to cook, so I have a freezer full of already made meals, frozen in individual portions.
How about things like Super Suppers for people who don't like to cook or don't have the time?

[ksera05]

Originally Posted by Dea

you are all going to hate me, but DH's work pays for 2 weeks of take out for employees when they have a baby.
HOWEVER I love to cook, so I have a freezer full of already made meals, frozen in individual portions.
How about things like Super Suppers for people who don't like to cook or don't have the time?

Where does your husband work and are they hiring?

I've personally looked at Super Suppers. They seem like a pretty good deal if you end up strapped for time or just can't handle being on your feet!

[ksera05]

So what are y'all thinking you'll be freezing?

I finally came up with my list, and I can post recipes for any of these that anyone is interested in :

breakfast foods:
-muffins (probably pumpkin and chocolate chip and maybe blueberry)
-quickbreads (zucchini, pumpkin)
-french toast
-pancakes
-breakfast sandwiches (I'll probably do biscuits, eggs, and sausage)

lunch foods:
-Italian pasta salad
-pizza bagels
-make ahead mexican wraps

dinner foods:
-crockpot macaroni and cheese
-"dump" chicken - I'm going to freeze two or three different varieties - I have a lot of chicken leg quarters right now, they've been on a good sale
-calzones
-I froze a pan of turkey and black bean enchiladas tonight, mmm
-tortilla casserole
-lasagne roll ups
-Shepherd's pie
-spaghetti sauce
-quesadillas
-chili

desserts:
-lactation cookies
-pumpkin roll
-oatmeal cookies

other things:
-cut up turkey for ritzy turkey - I'm going to do some chicken, too
-ground beef or turkey, cooked and seasoned with taco meat
-pizza ingredients in the fridge/cabinets so DH can put them together easily (honestly, I'll probably just stock up on the Pillsbury canned version...

other ideas that I might do:
-meatballs
-biscuit taco casserole
-pizza pasta casserole
-blueberry french toast bake
-spaghetti and meatball 'stoup' (if I do this one, I'll freeze it before adding the spaghetti and probably have bread dough in the fridge for DH to make bread to go with it)

We only have a small freezer so I'm going to have to get really creative with how I package stuff. I'm thinking I'll use gallon bags for as much as possible and freeze everything as flat as possible.

[AlwaysByMySide]

We're moving soon, so I can't start feeding the freezer until late December, at the earliest. (Which is good, I guess, since most "meals" should be eaten in three months anyway, and my baby isn't due until the end of February.)

I'll be freezing muffins, waffles and pancakes, french toast (the kind that is baked in a dish), maybe a breakfast casserole or two.

For lunch and dinner, I'm planning on a lot of crockpot meals. But for the freezer, I'll probably toss in some enchiladas, taco soup, quesadillas, chicken a la king, manicotti, things like that. I'm also going to prepare things like chopped onions, shredded cheese, ground beef/turkey, etc. and have them in the freezer to be able to throw together some stuff at the last minute.

[Dea]

ksera05 what are lactation cookies. I think that they would be a great recipe to share.
As for where DH works, I've talked about it on my blog, but I don't want to talk about it much here...
www.thetweedles.net
but the company is amazing with the most amazing benefits package.

[the elyse]

ya...what are lactation cookies??

[Gunter]

we stocked our freezer last time and had meals brought to us for the first 30 days by friends, neighbors and our church people. so fabulous! i was vegetarian then and am vegan now so it will be more challenging for other people, i think. we may make a list of places for them to bring us take-out which worked well last time for people. we also listed soy milk and cereal for someone to bring, things like that for people who didn't want to cook a whole meal or anything.

i remember eating:
chocolate chip banana bread
vegetarian biscuits and gravy, veg sausage
spinach lasagna
chili
eggplant parmesan
stir fry rice and veggies
mashed potatoes (which tasted a bit weird after the freeze though)

[nolonger]

My freezer is already jam-packed for winter with community supported agriculture and lots of other slighlty "older" (but otganic, fresh, and top-of-the-line) produce that I received in barter, so I am going to try to stay out of grocery stores (except for buying cat food and teenager food) for awhile so I can make room for ready-to-eat meals after the birth.

I also have a bread machine and a brand new crockpot.

I'd LOVE the recipe for lactation cookies too, Sarah.

[ksera05]

Lactation cookies

I made these after having Sydney and they're basically really filling oatmeal cookies. Obviously, how well they work depends on how well you respond to oatmeal as a galactologue but they taste yummy either way If you can't find flaxseed meal you can just grind flaxseeds in a coffee grinder. It works really well!

I'll warn you though, my husband likes them just as much if not more than I do so I'm going to have to make a lot personally

--

Housepoet's Famous Lactation Boosting Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip & Flaxseed cookies ™
Ingredients :

* 1 cup butter or marg
* 1 cup sugar
* 1 cup brown sugar
* 4 tablespoons water
* 2 tablespoons flaxseed meal*
* 2 large eggs
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 2 cups flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 3 cups oats, thick cut if you can get them
* 1 cup or more chocolate chips
* 2 tablespoons of brewers yeast* (be generous)

Directions:

Preheat oven at 375 degrees F. Mix together 2 tablespoons of flaxseed meal and water, set aside for 3-5 minutes. Cream (beat well) margarine and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, mix well. Stir flaxseed mixture and add with vanilla to the margarine mix. Beat until blended. Sift together dry ingredients, except oats and chips. Add to margarine mixture. Stir in oats then chips. Scoop or drop onto baking sheet, preferably lined with parchment or silpat. The dough is a little crumbly, so it helps to use a scoop.

Bake 8-12 minutes, depending on size of cookies.

Serves: 6 dozen cookies

Preparation time: 15 minutes

*can be found at any local health food store.
*NOTE* IT MUST BE BREWERS YEAST, NO SUBSTITUTIONS.

I made these for a friend who's having supply issues and they were so flippin' good. You can feel yourself lactating as you nibble on them. If you don't like chocolate, who doesn't like chocolate tho, you can substitute for carob chips, raisins, butterscotch chips, whatever.






If you would like to print this recipe out for distrubution please put the following:

Reprinted with permission

Noel Pickett
[e-mail]
http://breastfeedingisnormal.org